Soccer

Kieran Trippier banned for 10 weeks for betting rules breach

Atletico Madrid defender will miss 14 matches after four breaches were proven

Atletico Madrid defender Kieran Trippier has been suspended for 10 weeks and fined £70,000 for breaching the Football Association’s betting rules, the governing body has announced. Photo: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.

David Hytner
Wed Dec 23 2020 - 14:12

Kieran Trippier has been suspended from all football-related activity for 10 weeks and fined £70,000 (€77,000) after being found guilty of breaches of the Football Association’s betting regulations. The announcement of the sanction follows a lengthy investigation sparked by irregular betting patterns relating to the England defender’s move from Tottenham to Atlético Madrid in July of last year.

The FA charged Trippier with seven alleged breaches of the rule that forbids anyone inside the game to pass on information which is not publicly available to be used by others for betting. The 30-year-old denied all the allegations and has said that he did not place any bets himself or profit from bets made by other people.

Trippier requested a personal hearing, which the FA scheduled close to England’s Nations League tie at home to Denmark in October, meaning that he missed out on being selected. An independent commission, appointed to hear the case, found him guilty of four of the alleged breaches. They dismissed the other three.

Trippier’s punishment follows that of Daniel Sturridge, the former Liverpool and England striker, also for betting irregularities. Sturridge was initially given a six-week ban – with the final four weeks suspended – after being found guilty of providing inside information to family and friends relating to his move away from Liverpool in 2018. But the FA successfully appealed against the findings of the independent commission and Sturridge was given a four-month ban in March.

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The FA will study the full written reasons for Trippier’s sanction when they are released in the coming days but it is not expected to push for a more severe sentence. Trippier has the right of appeal, too. His suspension runs up to and including February 28th, meaning that he stands to miss 11 La Liga games plus at least one in the Copa del Rey and the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie at home to Chelsea. He has not missed a single minute for Atlético in the league or Champions League this season and his absence will hit them hard.

Trippier said during the November international break that he had tried to put the shadow of the case to the back of his mind, however difficult that might have been. “I’m just concentrating on my football and trying to give my all like I’ve done throughout my whole career,” he said. “My love’s always been there [for the game] and it always will be. I love coming away with England at every opportunity so my thought is just enjoying my football.” – Guardian